Open Paleo

Jiangshanosaurus

Tang et al., 2001 jee-AHNG-shah-no-SOR-us

Named for Jiangshan County in Zhejiang Province, China, where the fossils were found, combined with Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'.

113.2–89.8 million years ago Albian–Turonian, Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous stages

Jiangshanosaurus is a genus of herbivorous titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur from the Cretaceous of China.

Under dispute

Jiangshanosaurus was originally, tentatively assigned to Titanosauridae (Tang and colleagues, 2001), but recent phylogenetic analyses recover it within Euhelopodidae (Mannion and colleagues, 2019; Han and colleagues, 2024).

Diagnosis

  1. Neural arch of dorsal vertebrae with concave upper surface; laminar structures well developed with thin margins
  2. Anterior processes of dorsal vertebrae well developed, hemispherical in shape; ventral surface of centrum deeply concave
  3. Sternal ribs broad and flat, with conspicuous central cavity
  4. Acromion of scapula relatively broad; anteroposterior width approximately 150% of minimum scapular shaft width
  5. Scapular glenoid surface inclined medially; coracoid glenoid surface inclined laterally; glenoid opening at right angle
  6. Supracoracoideus fossa large, flat, slightly ovoid
  7. Coracoid foramen positioned near center of coracoid, relatively far from scapular articulation
  8. Anterior caudal vertebrae strongly procoelous; middle caudal vertebrae mildly procoelous
  9. Neural arches of caudal vertebrae attached to anterior part of centrum; lateral fossae on caudal centra absent

Species

Jiangshanosaurus lixianensis Tang et al., 2001

Type species

Named for Lixian Village, the locality in Jiangshan County, Zhejiang, China, where the holotype was excavated.

Holotype
ZNM M1322 , Zhejiang Museum of Natural History
Material
Partial postcranial skeleton: left scapulocoracoid, 5 mid-to-posterior dorsal vertebrae, partial ilia and ischia, 3 caudal vertebrae, femur shaft.
Horizon
lower Jinhua Formation, Albian–Turonian, Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous , 113.2–89.8 million years ago
Locality
Lixian, Jiangshan, Zhejiang, China

References

  1. Tang, F.; Kang, X. M.; Jin, Z. S.; Wei, F.; Wu, W. T. (2001). A new sauropod dinosaur of Cretaceous from Jingshan, Zhejiang province. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 39(4): 272-281. tang2001a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026b
  3. Mannion, P. D.; Upchurch, P.; Jin, X.; Zheng, W. (2019). New information on the Cretaceous sauropod dinosaurs of Zhejiang Province, China: impact on Laurasian titanosauriform phylogeny and biogeography. Royal Society Open Science 6(8): 191057. doi:10.1098/rsos.191057

    Redescribed Jiangshanosaurus and recovered it within Euhelopodidae under equal-weights parsimony, but within Titanosauria under implied weighting.

    mannion2019b
  4. Han, F.; Yang, L.; Lou, F.; Sullivan, C.; Xu, X.; Qiu, W.; Liu, H.; Yu, J.; Wu, R.; Ke, Y.; Xu, M.; Hu, J.; Lu, P. (2024). A new titanosaurian sauropod, Gandititan cavocaudatus gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Cretaceous of southern China. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 22(1): 2293038. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2023.2293038

    New titanosaur description's phylogeny placed Jiangshanosaurus within Euhelopodidae.

    han2024a